1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of computer systems management and, in particular, to methods, hardware products, and computer program products for implementing commerce between virtual worlds.
2. Description of Background
One of the important goals of resource virtualization is being able to access a variety of resources using set of standard interfaces, irrespective of different security domains to which the resources may belong. A security domain can be described as any domain which uses a single user registry and associated authentication mechanisms for authentication.
A virtual economy is an emergent economy existing in a virtual persistent world, typically in the context of an Internet game. Present-day virtual economies share many of the following characteristics: (a) persistence—an electronic record is maintained for storing a presently existing state of a virtual world and a plurality of resource possessions of all participants, regardless of whether or not any participant is currently engaged in a session with the virtual world; (b) scarcity—participants may expend resources in the real world, such as time or money, to obtain goods and/or services in the virtual world; (c) specialization—the availability of resources to participants may vary. For example, a participant may control a virtual character who is able to produce certain goods, while other characters would have to purchase them. Because this results in comparative advantage, complex trade relationships and a division of labor result; (d) trade—participants are able to transfer goods and services to and from other participants; and (e) property Rights—an electronic record is maintained setting forth which goods and services belong to which participant. Gaming software code for implementing the virtual world should allow participants to dispose of goods or services according to whim. The existence of these conditions creates an economic system with properties similar to those seen in contemporary economies. These emergent economies are considered by most participants to be an asset of the game, giving an extra dimension of reality to play.
Virtual economies are observed in Multi-User Dungeons (MUDs) and massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), with the largest virtual economies being found in MMORPGs. Virtual economies also exist in life simulation games, where steps have been taken toward linking a virtual economy with the real world. For example, Second Life enables participants to buy and sell Linden Dollars (the official currency of the Second Life world) for real money via third party websites. Virtual economies also exist in browser-based internet games where “real” money can be spent and user-created shops opened.
MUDs are inventively structured social experiences accessed via the Internet, managed by a computer program, and often involving a loosely organized context or theme. Illustrative contexts include a rambling old castle with many rooms or a specific period in United States history. MUDs are also known as 3-D worlds. Some MUDs involve ongoing adventure games; others are educational in purpose; and a few are simply social in nature. MUD participants adopt a character or avatar when they join or log in to a MUD. Each MUD has its own name, special character and ambience, and set of rules. Although a few MUDs continue to be entirely text-based, newer MUDs use virtual reality settings to permit viewing of participating characters. However, even with virtual reality MUDs, one primary focus is on the exchange of text between participants who are logged in at a particular time. There are a number of variations on the MUD, including object-oriented MUDs known as MOOs.
MMORPGs represent a genre of online computer role-playing games (CRPGs) in which a large number of players interact with one another in a virtual world. Each of a plurality of respective players assumes the role of a corresponding fictional character (most commonly in a fantasy world), and takes control over that character's actions. MMORPGs are distinguished from single-player or small multi-player CRPGs by a larger number of players, and by the game's persistent world, which continues to exist and evolve while the player is away from the game. The majority of MMORPGs are based on traditional fantasy. Some employ hybrid themes that either merge or substitute fantasy elements with those of science fiction, sword and sorcery, or crime fiction. Still others use more obscure themes, including American comic books, the occult, and other recognizable literary genres.
MMORPGs are deployed using a client-server system architecture. The software that generates and persists the “world” runs continuously on a server, and players connect to it via client software. The client software may provide access to the entire playing world, or further ‘expansions’ may be required to be purchased to allow access to certain areas of the game. Players may purchase the client software for a one-time fee, although an increasing trend is for MMORPGs to work using pre-existing “thin” clients, such as a web browser. Some MMORPGs require payment of a monthly subscription to play. By nature, “massively multiplayer” games are always online, and most require some sort of continuous revenue (such as monthly subscriptions and advertisements) for maintenance and development. Depending on the number of players and the system architecture, a MMORPG might actually be run on multiple separate servers, each representing an independent world, where players from one server cannot interact with those from another. One illustrative MMORPG is EVE Online which accommodated around 200,000 players in the same world as of August 2007 and 41,690 online users in December 2007.
MMORPGs are very popular. Worldwide revenues for MMORPGs exceeded half a billion dollars in 2005, and US revenues exceeded one billion dollars in 2006. The largest virtual economies are currently found in popular MMORPGs such as Entropia Universe, World of Warcraft, and EVE Online. Many MMORPGs feature living economies, as virtual items and virtual currency have to be gained through play and have definite value for players. A supply-and-demand market exists for virtual items which crosses over into the real world. Thus, existing MMORPGs provide some or all of the following functionality: (a) the ability for players to sell an item to each other for in-game (virtual) currency; (b) bartering for items between players for items of similar value; (c) the purchase of in-game items for real-world currency; (d) exchanges of real-world currencies for virtual currencies; and (e) the creation of meta-currencies such as DKP, or Dragon Kill Points, to distribute in-game rewards.
Virtual world developers sell virtual items and virtual currency for real-world money. For example, a MMORPG named There has Therebucks which sell for US dollars. The currency in Second Life can be converted from Linden Dollars into US Dollars and vice versa. Rates fluctuate based on supply and demand, but over the last few years they have remained fairly stable. The currency in Entropia Universe, Project Entropia Dollars (PED), can be bought and redeemed for real-world money. On Dec. 14, 2004, an island in Project Entropia sold for US $26,500. One gamer also purchased a virtual space station for US $100,000 with plans to use it as a virtual nightclub.
Eye On MOGS, BuddyPlayer, Gold Price Watcher, GameUSD, WoW Gold Seeker and GamerPrice represent examples of web site that provide comparisons of virtual currency sellers from which real life earnings may be converted into virtual gold, platinum, ISK or Credits, depending on one's inhabited virtual world. For example, a cursory examination of the WoW Gold web site shows thousands of search results representing electronic vendors from which virtual gold can be purchased. Real money commerce in a virtual market has grown to become a multi billion dollar industry. This lucrative market has opened a whole new type of economy where the border between the real and the virtual is obscure.
Hundreds of companies are enormously successful in this new found market, with some virtual items being sold for hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Virtual real estate is earning real world money. For example, a bread deliveryman recently purchased a piece of virtual real estate for $750 on a popular MMORPG known as Ultima Online. This virtual property includes nine rooms, three stories, rooftop patio, and a wall of solid stonework in a prime location, nestled at the foot of a quiet coastal hillside. This property would have been perfect if it had actually existed. The purchaser of this virtual property represents a group of gamers that are not in the market for a real house but instead aim to own a small piece of the vast mythical world in which the MMORPG unfolds. Such trading of real money for virtual goods simply represents the development of virtual economies where the real and the synthetic worlds are meeting within a single economic sphere.
Buying and selling virtual cash is a laborious process. Many players have purchased virtual cash using auction sites such as Ebay, or have exchanged real cash for virtual cash by paying high transaction costs on specific dealer sites such as Player Auctions. However, using auction sites to complete a transfer of virtual cash involves a multi-step procedure. After virtual cash is purchased or won on an auction site, the purchaser or winner must arrange to meet other players inside different virtual worlds to consummate the transfer of virtual cash. Moreover, the operators of MMORPGs typically run several versions of their virtual world simultaneously on separate sets of servers known as “shards”.
Swapping virtual cash between shards is laborious, but exchanging virtual cash directly from one MMORPG to another is almost impossible. The inability to efficiently and readily transfer virtual cash from one game to another inhibits the growth and development of virtual economies, despite the fact that game participants are already spending large sums of money buying and selling virtual cash, game artifacts, virtual weapons, and even complete characters. According to figures collated by economics professor Edward Castronova, more than US $9 million in trades were conducted in 2003 on Ebay category 1654 which includes internet games. In view of the foregoing considerations, what is needed is an improved technique for exchanging virtual currency across a plurality of different platforms and virtual worlds.